Catherine Conner
TechTips
Don’t Use These Passwords — Make a Better One!
Jun 14th
Lots of people have asked me recently about how to choose secure passwords. Not only does this article show you some of the most common passwords in use (don’t EVER use any of those! 
) but includes a short video with some easy tips on how to create a secure, yet memorable, password.
Alphabet Soup: What Do All Those Graphic File Formats Mean?
Oct 6th
A few weeks ago I gave a computer class where I was asked about the differences in common image file formats. Lo and behold, Lifehacker came out with a simple article that covers the basics, and gives some rules of thumb for which to use and when.
What’s the Difference Between JPG, PNG, and GIF? (Lifehacker.com)
Using Public WiFi Safely
Jul 9th
My friends are constantly surprised when I tell them how unsafe public WiFis can be. I’ve explained this multiple times to multiple people in the last several weeks. Then I came across this great Lifehacker article that spells out the dangers and the solutions, so I’m posting it for people to use as reference. Happy (and safe) surfing!
Facebook’s Newest Privacy Attack: Fight Back!
Apr 23rd
OK, so the new “Social Web” features of Facebook really scare me. I do NOT want FB silently collecting more information about me than I already share with it…and I do NOT want FB to “personalize” my experience on the web based on my and my friends’ preferences. As a start you can disable the new “OpenGraph” feature which collects all this data (of course FB has enabled this “feature” for everyone by default!).
“How to Reclaim Your Privacy by Disabling Facebook’s ‘OpenGraph’” (via How-to Geek)
Copy and Paste from the Web — With or Without Markup
Feb 1st
How I wish I’d found this extension earlier! Often I need to copy text directly from my browser into another document or other web page. But most of the time the automatic copy picks up all the HTML formatting code along with the text. That’s fine if I really want the formatting along for the ride, but more often I need to purge the markup code before I paste the text content into my next application. The only certain way I knew of to do this was by pasting my content into a plain text editor, recopying, and pasting to the final location. But if you use Firefox or Internet Explorer to do your browsing, there’s a really cool extension called Extended Copy Menu 1.6 that adds copying options to your right-click menu. More >
Easy Ways to Avoid Online Scams
Dec 14th
Many basic safety rules we learned as children: look both ways, don’t talk to strangers, do unto others. But for those of us who didn’t get online safety rules with our mother’s milk, here’s a great basic guide to avoiding online and email scamming from lifehacker.com (a great how-to site). A quick, easy, and non-tech-heavy read, I recommend it highly.
The Complete Guide to Avoiding Online Scams (for Your Less Savvy Friends and Relatives)
Flash is a Multimedia Tool, NOT a Website Platform
Dec 8th
I don’t want my blog to become one long vicious negative rant, so in general I try not to write pieces about things that irk me. However, once in a while I encounter something about which I feel passionately hacked off, for which I can offer some constructive alternatives, and that I want to warn my friends about. Plus, it is *my* blog, and if I can’t stand on my soapbox here, where else can I? So here it is:
Businesspeople: PLEASE stop building web sites based solely on Adobe Flash technology. Use it for streaming video and audio, by all means. Offer it as an extended “experience” on your site. But for the love of God, PLEASE learn to understand the basic functionality of web tools before you blindly blunder forward with technology marketing. More >
Don’t Believe Everything You Click: Some Common Facebook Ad Scams
Dec 1st
Facebook is a great tool, but like everything on the Internet, should also be used with a dose of caution. A great article on some common (and currently legitimate) ad scams on Facebook.
I finally came to this realization: People on Facebook won’t pay for anything. They don’t have credit cards, they don’t want credit cards, and they are not interested in shopping. But you can trick them into doing one of three things:
* Download a toolbar: It could be spyware (such as Zango) or something more legitimate, such as Webfetti or Zwinkys.
* Give up their email address: You’ve won a “free” camera or perhaps you’ve been selected as a tester for a new Macbook Pro (which you get to keep at the end of the test). Just tell us where you want us to ship it.
* Give up their phone number: You took the IQ Quiz, so give us your phone number and we’ll tell you your score. Never mind that you’ll get billed $20 a month or perhaps be tricked into inviting 10 other friends to beat your score.
It’s always wise to know what tunes the devil is playing! How To Spam Facebook Like A Pro: An Insider’s Confession
Using Google Search Feature “Shortcuts”
Nov 23rd
I remember life without Google. Back then I wasn’t aware that I was missing anything, but now I can’t imagine my life without it: instantly available data on almost any topic. But did you know there are additional features and shortcuts that can be entered directly into the Google search window that make it even more of an essential desktop tool? Unit conversions, currency converters, definitions, and more: here are a few that I use almost every day.
How To Download Podcasts in Windows
Oct 6th
This TechTip post discusses specifically how to download podcasts using podcatching software on an Windows computer. You may wish to first read my more general post “How to Find and Download Podcasts” for an overview of podcasts and podcasting.
Podcatching with Windows can be a little tricky. Windows XP and Vista operating systems usually come with their own audio/video players already installed (Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center, respectively). As of this writing, neither of these softwares includes podcatching functionality by default. So what are your options? More >
